Life Sentence For Life

More than two years after North Carolina's Supreme Court ruled that convicted killers given life terms under a quirky law must stay behind bars, two inmates serving life for lesser crimes want the court to release them.

The Supreme Court hears arguments Thursday in another case involving a law in which "life" sentences were defined during the 1970s as only 80 years.

Guilford County criminals Clyde Lovette and Charles Lynch argue that credits earned behind bars meant their sentences are complete and they should be released. Lovette pleaded guilty to a 1978 second-degree murder. Lynch was convicted of two counts of second-degree burglary from 1978.

Thirteen other inmates also have petitioned for their release using the same argument.

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